Netflix series examines case of 18-year-old missing girl, with links to Amy Bradley

Netflix has just released a true crime documentary about 18-year-old student Natalee Holloway, whose missing persons case has been linked to that of Amy Bradley. 

Amy Bradley went missing whilst she was on a Royal Caribbean cruise, and was last seen in March 1998, when the ship was on its way to Curaçao. Her case was examined in Amy Bradley Is Missing, released on Netflix last year. Now, Netflix has released a further series about Natalee, which has similarities to the Amy Bradley case. 

via Netflix

Natalee Holloway went missing in 2005

18-year-old student Natalee Holloway travelled to Aruba with 124 other students as part of a graduation trip, in May 2005. She vanished on the final day of the trip. 

The last time she ever seen, Natalee was driving off in a grey Honda with a group of local young men, including a then 17-year-old Joran van der Sloot. His story of her disappearance has changed over the years. He first told Natalee’s mother that he had returned her to her hotel, but surveillance footage showed she never returned to where she had been staying.

In June 2005, van der Sloot and two brothers, Deepak and Satish Kalpoe, were arrested on suspicion of kidnapping and murder. By September 2005, all three were released without charges.

In an interview a year later, van der Sloot said that he left Natalee on the beach and then went home. He denied having harmed her in any way. In 2007, all three of the boys were arrested again, but again, released without charge. 

Things then took a turn. A tape was obtained in which van der Sloot described Natalee’s death. He is then said to have admitted to accidentally killing her. But, this couldn’t be stood up.

The case went cold, until 2010, when 21-year-old business student Stephany Flores Ramírez was found dead in a hotel room registered to van der Sloot. He later pleaded guilty to Ramírez’s death in 2012, and was sentenced to 28 years in prison. Natalee was also declared legally dead that year.

Joran van der Sloot has since admitted to killing Natalee. He is yet to be tried for murder in Aruba, and cannot be tried in Natalee’s home country of the United States. Despite the confession, Natalee’s remains have not been found.

via Netflix

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Taken: Natalee Holloway is out on Netflix now

The Netflix synopsis for the new documentary reads: “On May 30, 2005, 18-year-old Natalee Holloway vanished on a high school graduation trip to Aruba — and never came home. What followed was years of unanswered questions, a missing teenager, and a mother’s relentless fight for the truth.

“Now, over 20 years later, Natalee’s mother, Beth, is ready to tell the complete story. With exclusive, unprecedented access to Beth and those who were with Natalee when she vanished, this three-part documentary series from Story Syndicate (Maternal Instinct, Titan: The Oceangate Disaster) and directors Dani Sloane and Matthew Galkin is the definitive account of a case that gripped a nation and never let go. It’s a story of a mother who refused to stop searching, an investigation that spanned continents, and a daughter whose memory endures. This is Natalee’s story, told at last in full.”

How is the case linked to Amy Bradley? 

The first obvious link between Natalee Holloway and Amy Bradley is that the two women were last seen around Aruba. However, the investigations crossed over, as well. 

In 2010, local authorities in the area Amy Bradley had last been seen discovered a jawbone. It had washed up on a beach in Aruba, and was believed to belong to a Caucasian.

Natalee Holloway had gone missing five years prior, in 2005. The jawbone was tested and found to not belong to Natalee, but no such testing was carried out to see if it belonged to Amy Bradley.

The discovery awoke the Amy Bradley case at the time. Many publications, including CNN, questioned if the bone could have belonged to Amy. It was noted that similarly to the Bradley family, Natalee’s parents complained of a lack of urgency by the authorities in the area.

Watch the trailer for Taken: Natalee Holloway 

Taken: Natalee Holloway is available on Netflix now. For all the latest Netflix news and drops, like The Holy Church of Netflix on Facebook.